


lay low in our lazy luxury

by bellawritess



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Cuddles, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Nonbinary Michael Clifford, Other, Waffles, also they watch the office, and michael uses they/them pronouns, as usual don't think too hard about it, fuzzy sweaters, honestly not much else to say here, monopoly, neither of these things explicitly mentioned but they're the canon of the fic, or fuzzy jumpers rather, trans calum hood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 20:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30060945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellawritess/pseuds/bellawritess
Summary: “Maximum comfort,” they explain, completely misinterpreting the sceptical look on Calum’s face.Calum pries the last waffle off the iron and settles it atop the stack on the plate. “I wasn’t wondering about the jumpers, you idiot, I’m wondering why Monopoly was your choice. Are you trying to break up with me?”Michael laughs. “It’ll be fun!”
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	lay low in our lazy luxury

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fueledbygaymen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fueledbygaymen/gifts).



> happy birthday [heath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fueledbygaymen) !!!!!!!!! i love you so much i don't really have the words. you've been here for me really since the start (i mean.......since TWITTER. so like. truly.) and we've come such a long way since then. i feel so lucky to know and love you. you are so lovely and so wonderful and loved by so many, as you deserve to be, and i truly believe that things are going to get so good for you. i'm happy to be here for it as long as you'll have me <3
> 
> i hope you like this fic, i wasn't sure if i would manage to finish it because i have not had the Energy to write fic lately but i'm very glad i did!! it was worth the effort i think. it's really just dumb cute malum fluff with some heath magic sprinkled in. i will in fact keep beating this dead horse of a trope and no one can stop me
> 
> title from sleeping in by all time low :)

Michael and Calum’s day off doesn’t start until eleven. Well, noon for Michael.

 _Calum_ is up at eleven, although he stays in bed for half an hour because Michael is still asleep and they’ve mutually decided that today is going to be _their_ day and therefore Calum doesn’t have to attend to any of the things he’d normally have to deal with. Besides, Michael looks so peaceful. Their hair is mussed up from sleep and their face is free of the stress lines that so often grace it during waking hours. It’s part of the reason they’re taking a day to themselves. Calum personally feels they’ve both more than earned it.

The longer he stays in bed, the drowsier he gets, so he sighs, brushes the hair gently out of Michael’s face, and quietly gets out of bed and leaves the room. Much as it would be nice to sleep the day away, that would be a waste of a perfectly good day. If Michael’s not up in an hour, Calum will wake them, but he’s pretty sure even Michael can’t sleep past noon, however hard they try. 

In the meantime, breakfast — or brunch — might be nice.

Calum pulls together the necessities for waffles. He shuffles a playlist of chill music and dances as he mixes. Two waffles have been successfully finished (and one underdone and subsequently binned — look, Calum’s not a professional breakfast chef and he doesn’t get a lot of time to refine his technique) when Michael shuffles into the kitchen, decked out in rumpled clothes and unruly hair and a blanket around their shoulders.

“Morning,” they yawn. Calum glances at the clock. It’s 11:58. Technically still morning.

“Morning,” he says in return, closing the waffle maker on the new batter and smiling broadly. “Sleep well?”

“Super well,” Michael says sleepily. Calum suspects the only reason they’re out of bed is because Calum is. Sure enough, Michael slides across the linoleum in their socks until they can wrap their arms around Calum’s waist, attaching to him from behind. “Though I have a complaint about the conditions of waking up.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, that I was alone,” Michael says stroppily. “You couldn’t stay in bed on the day we called a day off?”

“But then you wouldn’t have woken up to breakfast,” Calum points out. “You’re welcome.”

Michael falls silent, stumped. Calum grins and reaches up to thread their fingers together and kisses the back of Michael’s hand. On second thought: he turns around, kissing Michael softly on the mouth. 

“Fine, you win this one,” Michael acquiesces, a small smile on their lips as Calum pulls away. “Next day off, though, I make the rules. And I say we stay in bed all day.”

“Staying in bed all day is bad for you,” Calum says. “Probably. I assume.”

“Don’t care,” Michael counters dismissively, pulling the blanket up and over their head. “Worth it.”

Calum inclines his head. “Cross that bridge when we get to it, how about that?”

Michael nods. The blanket slides back down onto their shoulders and they tie the corners together to make a cape. “Wanna play a game while we eat? Or after?”

“Yeah, love to,” Calum says. The waffle maker starts beeping loudly. He turns back to it, adding, “I’ll play anything, if you wanna pick something out.”

Michael twirls around and the cape twirls with them. “Super-Mike is on it!”

“Mike-ro-wave?” Calum jokes.

Michael snickers. “Fuck yeah! Mike-ro-wave is on it. Cal-Pal, you stay here and man the, uh, waffles.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time?”

“Well, _continue_ doing it!” 

With that, Michael swoops out of the kitchen, apparently much more awake than they’d been on entry. That’s the power of waffles, Calum muses as he opens the machine. Just the smell is enough to wake anyone up. Even notoriously-cranky-in-mornings Michael. If there was more time, Calum would make them more often, but for now this will have to do.

Michael takes their time returning with a game, and when they do come back they’ve added a layer to their ensemble. Monopoly is in their hand and a fuzzy jumper practically swallows their entire upper body. The blanket cape is still tied around their shoulders. In their other hand is Calum’s matching fuzzy jumper.

“Maximum comfort,” they explain, completely misinterpreting the sceptical look on Calum’s face.

Calum pries the last waffle off the iron and settles it atop the stack on the plate. “I wasn’t wondering about the jumpers, you idiot, I’m wondering why Monopoly was your choice. Are you trying to break up with me?”

Michael laughs. “It’ll be fun!”

“When the fuck has Monopoly ever been called ‘fun’?” Calum shakes his head, carrying the plate of waffles out to the dining room table. Michael follows and takes a seat across from him. “Monopoly destroys relationships. It’s like the Mario Kart of board games.”

“And I think destroying our relationship by crushing your spirit in Monopoly is fun,” Michael says airily. Calum snorts.

“You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?”

“I’ve heard.” Michael grins, tearing a quarter out of the top waffle and biting into it. “Fuck, this is hot, shit, shit, shit —”

“I feel like you deserved that,” Calum says. “Karma.”

Michael flips him off as Calum goes to retrieve plates and cutlery for the two of them. When he comes back, Michael has already gone ahead and set up the board between them. The waffles have been shoved to the side, and Michael is counting the money.

“Fine, be like that,” Calum says, sitting. “But I hope you know you’re going down, Cliffo.”

Michael barks a laugh. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, mate.”

“Those are fighting words.”

“You’re damn right they are.”

And, well, Calum Hood doesn’t back down from a challenge.

They make it three hours before calling it quits. 

Three brutal hours, to be fair. It really speaks to the integrity of their relationship that they’re still together when they decide to stop playing. Calum had pulled his fuzzy jumper on only to take it off soon after from the combined heat of the waffles and the intense gameplay. 

Michael keeps theirs on, but Calum thinks that’s less of a warmth thing and more about Michael trying to permanently fuse with their fuzzy jumper. If they could be surgically attached to that thing, Calum’s confident they already would be.

On top of everything, Michael is almost definitely cheating. Calum accuses them of cheating and they scoff loudly and proclaim that they would _never_ , but Calum is pretty sure they are. They never seem to run out of money, which is suspicious. Calum’s has to give them a little credit. He hasn’t left the table since they started playing — he’s not about to make it that easy for Michael — so the fact that Michael is somehow managing to steal from the bank anyway is almost impressive, at least.

Eventually, though, even Monopoly gets boring.

To no one’s surprise, Michael ends the game with more money and is thus declared victor. “ _Fuck_ yeah, take that!” they whoop, ignoring Calum rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “We need a Monopoly crown.”

“We definitely don’t.”

“So I can wear it, yes we do,” Michael insists, grinning smugly. “How does it feel to be the loser, Mr. Hood?” They hold out an imaginary microphone in front of Calum’s face.

Calum raises his eyebrows and speaks into the fake mic. “Feels like my partner is a bloody cheater.”

“Hey!”

Calum laughs. “If I accept that I lost will you admit that you fucking robbed the bank blind?”

“It would be a lie!”

“Yeah, alright.” Calum gives a wry chuckle. “Well, I’ll clear the table if you put the game away.”

“Loser puts the game away, babe,” Michael says sweetly. Calum’s prepared to be all indignant when they push their chair out and stack up the plates, bending down to kiss Calum’s cheek. “ _I’ll_ clear the table.”

Which is a fair trade. 

Calum smiles — he doesn’t know how not to smile when Michael is involved, and it’s embarrassing, really, because his partner clearly has no moral compass when it comes to competition and yet here’s Calum smiling like he doesn’t care that Michael makes a habit of burglarising the Monopoly bank — and sets to collecting their various houses and hotels. He also collects the dog (Michael’s game piece) and the hat (his own) and drops those in the box with a clatter.

When the game is cleared away and the dishes are all in the sink, Michael coaxes Calum to the living room couch with little effort, insisting as they go that Calum put his fuzzy jumper back for “better cuddling” reasons. 

“What are we watching?” asks Calum, clicking on the telly. “Something old or something new?”

“Or something borrowed or something blue?” Michael finishes absently, fidgeting to get comfortable on the cushions. They curl up against Calum’s side, tucked under his arm, and add, “Something we’ve seen before. I’m not in the mood to start a new show, you know?”

“Yeah, me neither.” Calum pulls up Netflix and pretends like he’s giving every show a fair shot before finally opening _The Office_. Michael hums their agreement.

“You really get me,” they sigh happily. More quietly: “Even though I kicked your arse in Monopoly.”

“I’m still holding the remote,” Calum threatens as Michael snickers. “I could _so_ put on something you hate.”

“Well I _did_ ,” Michael says, laughing. Calum clicks away from _The Office_. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! No more Monopoly talk. Truce. I won’t bring up my epic victory again.”

“Mate—”

“Starting now,” Michael says, looking up at Calum with a cheeky smile. “Promise.”

Calum inclines his head, waits for Michael to kiss his cheek, and then plays _The Office_ where they’d left off on their last mindless rewatch. 

Watching TV in mid-afternoon isn’t really their style. TV is usually more of a late-night activity, done in the dark, in bed, usually on Michael’s laptop. But it’s nice to relax for a day, to snuggle up in twin fuzzy jumpers (that really have no business being as cosy as they are) with Michael and watch what is mutually their favourite show and take some time to feel okay for not worrying about anything else.

It’s always good to have a day to reset, and it’s even better when Calum gets to share those days with Michael.

“I’m glad we’re doing this,” he murmurs.

“What, taking a day off?”

Calum shrugs. “Yeah, I mean. Yeah. And I’m glad we’re doing it together.”

Michael hums. “Well, obviously we are.” They take a beat. “Thanks for convincing me to do it.”

“‘Course,” Calum says. “You earned it. You’ve been working your arse off.”

“We both have.”

“Yeah, and that includes you.” Calum brushes a kiss into Michael’s hair and pulls them closer. “I’d let you beat me at Monopoly any day if it meant we got to spend it like this.”

“That would have been such a cute thing to say if you hadn’t implied that my victory was your decision,” Michael whispers, affronted. “You didn’t _let_ me win, I beat you because I’ve got mad skills.”

“Because you cheated,” Calum says lightly, “but okay.”

“I didn’t cheat!”

Calum laughs and turns the volume up on the TV.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading :) happy birthday heath i love you to pieces <3 as usual i'm on tumblr [@clumsyclifford](http://clumsyclifford.tumblr.com/) if anyone wants to come say hey! leave a comment if you liked it (they make me smile) and everyone have a wonderful day okay i'm gonna go attempt to study for a test i have in two and a half hours that i will definitely not do well on wish me luck xoxo


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